Say Two Things at Once

Paradoxes, irony, puns, and tactical ignorance.

Why would you want to say two things at once? For circumlocution ("speak around"), for humor, to disguise your rhetorical goals, and to allow contraries to co-exist. "In discord is harmony [concordia discors]," Augustine said. Two-headed figures like the ones below let you sound a rhetorical chord— or dischord.

apophasis (a-PA-pha-sis) The deny-it-then-say-it figure. Also see this.

aporia (a-POR-ia) The I-don’t-know-how-to-say-this figure; an expression of doubt, real or feigned.catachresis (cat-a-KREE-sis) The Metaphor Gone Wild. Also see this. And this.Catch-22 An act that can only be performed by its contrary.